House Renovation - The Lounge

At first glance the lounge strikes as having an awkward irregular shape - there are no right angles.

On the other hand, the bay window is generous with a width of 2 metres allowing a sofa to sit comfortably.

Positioning the seating area at this end of the room has increased the sense of spaciousness.

The top right corner increases this sense of space further, because it's greater than 90 degrees. The Plasma TV was positioned on the wall facing the sofa, thus not encumbering the wall housing the newly crafted bookshelves.

These were expressed as a period feature installed on either side of the Original Victorian grate.

The ceiling was taken down and redone. To achieve a period interior look, the following period features were installed - new fibrous plaster cornices and rose, two reclaimed cast iron radiators with crane valves. The fireplace was re-opened and a Thomas Jeckyll grate, circa 1875, installed by a HETAS engineer, framed with a 1926 double barley twist oak mantelpiece and the hearth tiled with Olde English geometric tiles laid in diamond pattern.

The mantelpiece had to be painted because of its state - the colour scheme was chosen to reflect the geometric tiles.